Avalanche HC Rips Major Penalty on Nathan MacKinnon

Seeing this, the officials doled out a major penalty for interference on the goaltender. It stood after video review.

“The goalie’s hurt, so it’s five [minutes]?” Bednar exclaimed in exasperation after the game. “I really don’t give a crap if their goalie’s hurt. That’s on their D-men, not on our guy.”

Bednar wasn’t done with his displeasure.

“There’s no chance that he hits the goalie if Nurse doesn’t run into him,” he said. “I don’t care if he’s injured or not injured, it’s a severe crash or not a severe crash. It’s not a penalty. If you put guys in your own goalie, it’s not a penalty.”

Perhaps Bednar wouldn’t have been as frustrated had the Avalanche gone on to win what was an important game against one of the better teams in the Western Conference. With the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild breathing down Colorado’s neck, any sort of win to acquire some semblance of separation would’ve been welcome. Alas, that didn’t happen, and the Avalanche are left clutching their pearls after what they deemed a questionable call.

Avalanche Furious After Goalie Interference Call

MacKinnon’s teammates had his back after the whole situation.

“Nate’s got some of the best spatial awareness in the league,” Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, a top candidate for the Norris Trophy, said. “He’s not going to cut into the goalie like that. Explanation we got from the refs was that [Nurse] didn’t nudge him enough.”

“He’s diving across the top of the crease to try and get out of the way,” newly acquired forward Nazem Kadri said. “That’s part of the rule, for the player to at least make some sort of attempt. There was clear contact, and I have no idea how that was a five-minute [major].”

In the end, it was, and the Avalanche lost the game. As a result, the team now sits just five points ahead of the Stars and eight points ahead of the Wild in the race to win the Central Division.